Jesus fucking Christ.

[tzikeh]

Shit that flies has to stop falling into the Hudson River.

I'm certain it's because I have no concept of what it is like to fly a small plane (well, or a large one, but you take my meaning), but I don't know how a small plane can fly *into* a helicopter. Clearly each pilot could see the other craft. Since all involved are dead, and I don't think they have "black boxes" for these very small carriers, I don't know if we'll ever have an answer.

Comments

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Part of the problem is Teterboro Airport, which is in an urban area just across from Manhattan and very busy with commuter and private planes. It's been the site or origin of many problems, and should be relocated. A few years ago a plane skidded off a runway there and across a busy road on the perimeter. Pilots from there have a complicated trajectory when taking off in order to avoid traffic from the three big NY airports. Clearly private plane pilots may not have the experience or skills to navigate such a narrow window of safety.

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

on top of that all small planes have blind spots - high wing planes, you cannot see what is above and low winged what is below. as co-pilot my job was to peer around actively doing sky sweeps to spot traffic. add to that helicopters can fly into and out of zones very quickly.....even in traffic controlled areas there are pockets where you're not under tower control (air traffic control fans out in the shape of an upside down layered wedding cake.

in short, flying is like driving a car where the roads are 3 dimensional, you cannot see in all directions and objects are always in motion.

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

They're also saying now the plane came up into the helicopter's blind spot - the right rear - and with the copter pilot on the left side, he couldn't see. It's really amazing how much danger there is in flying in such a busy area - pilots have my admiration, and the fact there aren't even more accidents is due to their skill. What a nerve-wracking job!

And that's a really interesting visual - an upside-down layer cake!

[morgandawn.livejournal.com]

yeah, the further you are from an airport - the higher you need to be to be required to be under traffic control. ex: 10 miles out, no traffic control if you're flying at 3000 feet or under (the numbers vary). when you're within a short distance of the airport, the traffic control reaches all the way to the ground and everyone is on radar and under traffic control direction.

the majority of small air fields have no traffic control or radar and you're on VFR (Visual Flight). This means flying a pre set pattern (each air field has their own pattern/flight path which is recorded in a flight book that you carry and read before flying. I suspect that by now they have a flight book GPS). you also tune into the same radio frequency (again each small air port has a preset frequency) and radio your position and intention to the other pilots in the area.

And you spent time looking and looking and looking .

if you're new to the area you can easily make mistakes. there was the one time we flew into Barstow at night and missed the airport. we landed on an abandoned airfield (I knew something was up when I saw the gaps and cracks in the runway beneath our landing gear). we couldn't raise the tower on the radio so we had to jog to a pay phone to call the tower to let them know we had not crashed (this was pre-cell phone days). very embarrassing.

I add that I was only the co-pilot. and it was dark. and it was Barstow.

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

I remember reading an article written by a pilot that said that, on 9/11, when he heard about a plane flying into the WTC he (a) assumed it was a small plane (b) was not at all surprised because of course a small plane flying into the WTC was BOUND to happen sooner or later, what with the air traffic situation in that area.